Consequences
by Tigger23505
Summary: Inspired by Bookdragon01's story A Practical Gift - Kirk examines the unintended consequences of garment engineering.  Last chapter - Talley Ho
1. Ripstop

Consequences

_For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction – 3rd Law of Motion_

* * *

Jim was in a foul mood. Chief Giotto's laughter wasn't helping. Neither was Bones who was in full mother hen mode.

The day had started off well. Enterprise was doing spot surveys on a class M planet. There was a primitive pre-warp culture, but so far they had avoided contact.

Jim had taken advantage of the quiet to beam down and check on one of the parties. He had a good lock on their position on his tricorder and was walking in from the beam down point. He was hurrying towards them when he made his first mistake. Doctrine called for personnel to stop when checking tricorder reading. Jim hadn't stopped and was head down looking at the display when he heard the snick of the trap's trigger.

His jump at that sound meant that the trap hadn't gotten a good shot at him. But one arm of the treble hook had caught in the hem of his shirt. That had turned out to be the second mistake of the day. He was wearing the shirt that Scotty had given him for Christmas. It was a special micro-meta-aramid fiber created to be bullet proof, knife resistant, flame and fire resistant, and un-tearable. The ultimate in high tech ripstop material. Instead of tearing out of the shirt, the hook had instead lifted Jim about three meters above the ground and pinned his arms so that he could not reach the rope to pull himself up, or reach his knife to cut the rope. Worst he could not reach his communicator.

His communicator was in silent mode. This would have counted as Jim's third mistake of the day, but it was part of the doctrine for avoiding contact. Bad things happened when communicators made noise unexpectedly. Silent mode also meant that the communicator was not accepting voice commands. He was having trouble keeping track of the time but the communicator had vibrated twice while he was hanging. That meant that he had missed two fifteen minute comm checks. Uhura was probably guiding the cavalry in to rescue him. It was going to be embarrassing.

It was worse than he had figured. The cavalry when it arrived consisted of Chief Giotto, Bones and three red shirts. Working as a well oiled team, Giotto and the red shirts lowered Kirk to the ground. As he was being lowered, Bones had run a medical scan. The results hadn't made him happy, Jim was in stage 1 suspension trauma. Bones didn't want things to go from bad to worse so he wasn't letting Jim sit or lie down. Instead he had two of the red shirts supporting his shoulders while he walked slowly and painfully around the clearing.

Chief Giotto liked to get the facts of any incident quickly, in the field if it was safe and practical to do so. While Kirk walked the chief interrogated him. Jim was sure that this would show up in a simulation soon. After about ten minutes of walking Bones decided that it was safe for Jim to sit down. In the meantime he had examined the hook. It was old and rusty, so he prepared a hypo spray with a tetanus booster and antibiotic, no telling what was on that hook. There was a long scratch on Jim's back, Bones treated it with a dermal repair unit, after giving the captain the shot, none too gently.

Giotto's examination of the hook, line and trap design forced one conclusion. The trap was a basic Starfleet survival school design. The materials were standard Starfleet survival kit issue Since it hadn't been dismantled he figured that it had been constructed by some Starfleet member who had been marooned on this planet. This was bad news as it was possible that a Prime Directive breach had occurred. He was going to have to recommend a more intensive search of the area for wreckage. The realization that a Starfleet food trap had caught the captain and signaled a possible Directive breach stuck him funny and he burst into laughter.

As the beamed back up to the ship, Jim realized that the hardest task of the day remained. He had to tell Scotty that there were occasions when a ripped shirt was a good thing.

* * *

A/N

Bookdragon01 double dog dared me to write this – after my response to A Practical Gift.

Suspension Trauma is real and it can kill. Its related to the feeling that you get after swimming for a while and then climbing out.


	2. Flash

Disclaimer: I make no profit from my writing and do not own the Star Trek franchise or the canon characters

**Flash**

Never under estimate the power of human stupidity. R. A. Heinlein (1907 – 1988)

* * *

The survey mission had become more complicated after Jim found the trap.

The first order of business had been to recalibrate the sensors and conduct a detailed sweep of the planet searching for wreckage, survival capsules, and other indications that might lead to locating the persons who had set the trap.

The initial search was an expanding square around the site of the trap. As the area scanned increased they found indications of duranium. As there were no duranium deposits known on the planet, the only reasonable source would be a shuttle craft or survival pod. The search would continue, in case there was more than one shuttle landing site on the planet.

* * *

In order to minimize the protential for technology contamination the base camp consisted of tents and shelter flies. The site was on a mountain side and grew cool during the evening and cold at night. The tents were equipped with hydrocarbon fueled liquid stoves of an old but well proven design.

Jim, Spock and Bones were making a quick tour of the command post, when the local star flared up and the planet was enveloped in an ion storm. Just before communications failed, they learned that the storm was likely to last 24 to 36 hours. They were going to be there overnight.

* * *

Kirk, took Lt. Kyle aside for a consultation.

"Lt, I'm sorry to inconvenience you like this. We didn't plan on getting stranded for a day."

"Captain, its no inconvenience, we've got people on watch all through the night so we have spare cots for all of you. We also have stores for a week, and extra warm clothing too replace anything damaged during the search."

"I was thinking more of the problem of having your CO hanging around when you had an independent command.

"Have you had any luck yet finding anything?"

"Not really Captain, so far all we've found are shreds of duranium, as though a shuttle came in low and scraped something off. Best guess is that they might have lost one of the pods and spun in. We'll keep looking, something will show up eventually."

* * *

As they walked to their tent after dinner, a smorgasbord of Starfleet's contenders for worst field meal ever. Bones grumbled, "I'm a doctor not a dietician, but I can't believe that those meals were ever tested by humans for edibility."

Spock replied, "Doctor, the meals are certified to provide a full days nutrition. My meal was nutritionally adequate and filling."

"Both of you pipe down." Kirk said, "The same argument has been made by every army in history. I expect that Napoleon's troops didn't care for margarine."

* * *

Ens Comer entered the tent after being relieved. Something wasn't right. It should have been warmer. She walked over to the heater. The fuel can was empty, so she picked up a fresh can and connected it to the stove.

Jim woke up with pressure in his bladder, opened his eyes slightly and realized that the Comer was about to make a bad mistake.

The stove was still too warm to relight. The manual which both Scotty and Giotto had carefully instructed all of the search party members on, called for the stove to be lit only when cold. Jim lunged for Comer as she lit a match and started to insert it into the stove. He knocked her down and out of line with the fire ball that belched out of the stove. Unfortunately for Jim, the fire ball singed hair all over his head. He had remembered at the last second to close his eyes. It was all he could do afterward to not rub his face which felt like it was still on fire.

Ten minutes later as Bones put way the dermal regenerator. He mumbled to himself, "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a chimney sweep. You were lucky that you had on Scotty's shirt, it kept you from having burns all over your torso."

Jim, asked "Am I missing an eyebrow?"

Spock answered, "Actually Captain you are missing both of them.

* * *

a / n

The current American field ration, the MRE (Meal, Ready to eat) has been known to most soldiers as three lies in one, its not a meal, its not ready, and its not edible. As in most of life you can have any two of fast, good and inexpensive. Choose wisely.


	3. Bang

Disclaimer: I make no profit from my writing and do not own the Star Trek franchise or the canon characters.

**Bang**

_Never run out of altitude, airspeed and ideas all at the same time._

Aviation Proverb

Jim was bored, he had been sitting in his bridge chair for hours. After the ion storm ended, Enterprise recommenced the expanding box search centered on the location of the debris. The search would have been simple if the land was flat. On the other hand if the land had been flat they wouldn't have needed to look for a crashed shuttle. The mountains in the area were filled with mineral traces. The y had located a number of "hot spots," but each one would need to be hiked into, and examined on foot.

They had tried to establish a direction from the debris field but as Mr. Spock had noted. "Logic is but a way to err with certainty." They needed data that they didn't yet have, and might not have until they found the shuttle. The evidence strongly suggested that one person on the shuttle had survived and was able to do basic survival tasks. In theory there should have been a marker of some sort. None of the standard markers had been deployed, nor were there any indications of field expedient markers.

* * *

Ens Comer was walking point for her search party. It was the third day that they had walked up one of the canyons near the base camp. The team had been walking for an hour and it was time for a breather. Comer decided that they would halt at the next turn in the canyon.

Comer's team took a long break, eating a field meal so that they could keep up their energy level. The water in the stream bed was purified and water heated for instant beverages. As Comer sipped a cup of sweetened tea, she looked around the canyon walls. About 100 meters up stream, something caught her eye. One of the shadows looked funny, and the wall looked different somehow. It wasn't quite the same as when they stopped for lunch.

She called it in.

Her team broke down the water heater, and cleaned up the trash from lunch. She pointed out the spot to her assistant team leader petty officer Pete James. They decided that it was worth investigating.

* * *

As they got closer they could see that there was a fold in the rock, creating a shadow. The closer they got the more like a cave the fold looked. Once they arrived at the spot they were able to see that there was a hole in the canyon wall. Comer and Jenkins roped up before entering the cave. The entry plan was that Comer and Jenkins would enter, James and McDougal would standby as a safety watch ready to enter immediately and remaining pair from the team would handle communications with the base camp and Enterprise.

Tying a light line outside of the cave, the entered. Inside the cave, it was dark Jenkins turned on a light sweeping it around the cave, it extended 50 meters into the hillside. Comer made a scan with a tricorder which indicated traces of latinum.

They marked the spot with a small pile of stones, then moved further back into the cave. Walking carefully they made their way in about 300 meters. The tunnel widened out into a large chamber. As Jenkins swept the light around the chamber, they saw what appeared to be bodies.

At this point Comer decided that it was time to exit the cave and make a report to base camp.

* * *

Comer's team had established a security perimeter at the entrance to the cave. A forensic team was enroute to conduct an investigation of the site. While the waited for the forensic team, they continued searching the canyon. James and McDougal had gone about 800 meters up canyon, when they noticed gouges in the canyon floor. At the far end of the gouges was a rock fall.

When they arrived at the rock fall they found another cave, this one was much smaller. James turned a light on and looked inside the cave. The interior of the cave was a shuttle craft. Five of the crew restraints showed signs of impact damage when they looked at them.

They called in their find and took a bearing on the gouges, and measured them with a tricorder. This information would be useful in reconstructing events.

* * *

Three days later the forensic team had enough data to make a preliminary report. The shuttle appeared to have been operated by a team of mercenaries involved in an illegal latinum mining operation. The shuttle that they were using had been poorly maintained, and had been overloaded. The data logs showed that one of the impulse units had failed. The combination of overload and underpowered resulted in a forced landing.

About all the could be said about the landing was that they had walked away from it. The shuttle was a total loss. The emergency kit had provided enough supplies to get them setup in the mining tunnel. It appeared that they had cached the mined ore somewhere, but the so far the ground team had been unable to locate it.

* * *

Engineering had successfully removed the shuttle, so that there was no danger of technological contamination of the planet. Bones was still running tests on the recovered remains. Trying to find out how they had died. So far he had ruled out starvation, dehydration, and suffocation.

* * *

The team was wrapping up the ground operation. Comer and her team were packing up the last of the tents, and gear. It had been a long hard day and suddenly she was dropping things. She picked up the crate, noticing a funny tingle in her finger tips. The crate seemed even heavier, and now she was having trouble breathing. The crate fell one last time, and Comer followed it down.

The sound startled McDougal, who turned around to see what had happened. Ens Comer was sprawled awkwardly on top of the crate. Sounding the alarm McDougal ran to see what was wrong. McDougal looked at Comer and saw that she looked bad, as he looked she took one last ragged breath and stopped breathing. He flipped open his communicator and made a call for help. Leaving it in speaker mode he set it on the ground and pulled Comer off of the crate, then laid her flat on the ground.

Check for pulse – nothing.

Head lift. Chin tilt. Listen for breath – nothing.

Two quick breathes, the 30 compressions, make sure the count is out loud.

Where is everyone?

Two quick breaths, one, two, three, four …

Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.

Pete James came running up. "Angus! What's happening?"

"Can't talk now. Call for help!

One, two

Pete picked up the communicator. "Enterprise, Medical emergency, camp two. Say again, medical emergency, camp two. Request immediate assistance."

TBC


	4. Triage

Disclaimer: I make no profit from my writing and do not own the Star Trek franchise or the canon characters.

Dr. Angus McKenzie appears by permission of Starquilter57. Chief Giotto appears by permission of Bookdragon01.

**Triage**

_I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery _ from the Hippocratic Oath

Pete James came running up. "Angus! What's happening?"

"Can't talk now. Call for help!

One, two

Pete grabbed his communicator. "Enterprise, Medical emergency, camp two. Say again, medical emergency, camp two. Request immediate assistance."

Moments later the air sparkled and hummed.

Two combat medics and a triage kit materialized.

One of them relieved Angus continuing CPR as the second took a med scanner and did a quick check of Comer. "Enterprise med team 1 on scene. Victim is in anaphalactic shock. Administering epinephrine, request immediate transport directly to sickbay.

* * *

Sickbay was a madhouse as McCoy tried to figure out what was happening to Comer. It was obviously a reaction to some toxin. But what? He had gotten her stabilized, but that was still only treating the symptoms. Starfleet inoculated for nearly all of the common things, so was it something new, or something old?

Stepping into his office for a minute Bones picked up the autopsy report on one of the bodies from the planet. Something about Comer and the body. There it was, indications of respiratory distress and shock. Something that he had read just the other day in the Lancet. Several star systems in the area had reported out breaks of Rigilian Cargo Rat fever.

He headed back into sick bay, "Nurse Chapel, we need a sample of blood to look for cargo rat fever!"

Next he called the bridge.

"Jim, I think I know what killed the miners. But, If I'm right I'll need you Spock, and Scotty in sickbay right now. Also all of the gear from the planet, needs to be destroyed. Get the landing party up now! Beam them to the isolation ward in sick bay.

* * *

Chapel had the report waiting when he finished with the bridge. "Doctor, it is Rigilian Cargo Rat fever. I'm synthesizing the vaccine now."

"OK, We have to get every one who was close to her in the last week into isolation. That would be the Captain, Mr. Spock, Scotty and the entire landing party. We need to screen them for exposure. Then we need to get their consent forms and vaccinate everyone who is positive. Lastly, we need to keep them under observation for at least 12 hours while we check for symptoms of vaccine reaction."

* * *

Bones tried to get things started after the last members of the landing party arrived. "OK Everybody settle down for a minute. I've got a few things to tell you. First, our friend and shipmate Ens Comer has contracted Rigilian Cargo Rat fever. Second thanks to prompt action by McDougal and James as well as emergency action by the standby medical team, Miz Comer will survive. Y'all are here because you tested positive for exposure. Finally, since none of you are showing frank symptoms, we will be able to administer the vaccine for this fever."

"About the vaccine, I need to make one thing clear to all of you. The vaccine for this virus causes a serious reaction in one out of every 10 people inoculated with it. This reaction is why Starfleet does not administer this vaccine with the standard series of inoculations. The reaction is nearly as bad as the disease. The first indication is a tingling in the extremities, followed by a loss of fine motor control. If we catch it early enough we can treat the reaction and prevent problems. These symptoms normally occur withing 12 hours of inoculation so you will stay here under observation."

* * *

McCoy sat in his office reviewing the lab work on the shuttle crash victims. They had all succumbed to rat fever. The evidence of the contusions and broken bones suggested that they had died within a week to ten days of the crash.

Bones decided to call Angus.

"Incoming communication for Dr. Angus McKenzie from Dr. Leonard McCoy"

"On screen. Leonard, what is it. I'm sure you're not calling to wish me a happy birthday."

"No Angus, it slipped my mind. I've got a problem and I'm hoping you can help. I'm assuming that you read about the multi-planet outbreak of cargo rat fever in the last issue of the Lancet. We're out in that neighborhood and just had a case of rat fever in the crew. I think that this planet may be point zero in the outbreak. Can you call in a favor or two and get the Morbidity and Mortality folks at the Surgeon Generals office and your friends in the Federation Health Organization in Geneva looking for cargo vessels that arrived at those planets within the incubation window."

"OK, Len, but we'll need a message from you, to document this."

"I'll have it drafted and on the way in an hour."

* * *

Bones stepped back into isolation with the message.

The folks in sick bay had settled in around several gaming tables, most were playing HORSE, though a smaller group was playing Go Fish and the smallest group was playing Slap Jack. Bones looked past the tables, seeing two people who were not playing any of the games.

In disobedience of his orders to the group, the Captain and Mr. Spock were sitting on adjacent biobeds having a quiet discussion. These two were the most worrying for McCoy. Kirk seemed to be allergic to everything in the universe. Vulcans, as a result of their copper based blood, were normally immune to rat fever, but Spock was a special case, with his mix of Human and Vulcan physiology. Anything could happen.

Bones walked over. "Jim, Spock, I had a good reason for wanting _Everyone_ to do something involving fine motor work. It's the best indicator of a reaction. Since you're both too grown up for Slap Jack, Go Fish, or Poker, I need both of you to do something besides talk. You've got five minutes to come up with something. Oh! One last thing. Jim, I need your signature releasing this message to Starfleet and the Federation Health Organization. We have to report the 'Rat' fever case."

After he lowered the boom, they both sent for their knitting projects. Jim's had arrived first, but one of the nurses had to change the bamboo needles for steel ones which would stand up better when everything was sterilized. It was a standard sock knit from the cuff down. Jim wasn't very happy, he thought that the sock was sliding around more than usual.

Bones was more surprised when Spock's project arrived. He had two flexible needles about 75 cm long and was knitting the two socks from the toe up. Bones wasn't sure how it was being done but both needles were run through both socks. Compared to Jim's single sock it looked like an assembly line.

Any way, they were both doing something that would show if they were having a reaction.

* * *

Four hours later Bones, was making another round. The card games were still in progress. More cards had been broken out the Slap Jack players were now playing various solitaire games. Bones recognized Empress of India, Klondike and one that looked like Idiots Delight. The weird note was the Captain and the hobgoblin sitting on biobeds and knitting like a pair of gossipy old biddies.

"Captain, like most Vulcan children I learned knitting as a tool to develop dexterity. An analysis by artisans from the Vulcan Cultural Institute showed that the toe up method combined with a two at once technique is the most efficient knitting method."

"That looks a lot faster than one at a time. How hard is it to learn?"

"The toe can be a little difficult the first time or two and I do not believe we have the required needles here. But if we can get the right needles, I would be pleased to show you the technique."

Several others had dropped out of the poker game. They had gotten some string and were now playing cats cradle. Manipulating the string loop into ever more complicated patterns.

Now that everyone was doing something with their hands he headed back to his office. He sent the message to Angus, Starfleet Morbidity and Mortality, and FHO. He knew that the investigation and paperwork would take time. He hoped that there was enough data to identify the carrier.

* * *

13 hours after Comer had been beamed up, Bones breathed a sigh of relief. With twenty people receiving inoculations against rat fever, there should have been two cases of adverse reactions. There hadn't been any. Now that everyone had gone to bed, he finished up the paperwork and was on his way to bed himself.

There was still a lot to do, but it would have to wait. After all tomorrow was another day.

**TBC**

A/N HORSE is a high stakes poker game consisting of Texas **H**old 'em, **O**maha eight or better, **R**azz, **S**even Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud **E**ight or better.


	5. Talley Ho

Disclaimer: I make no profit from my writing and do not own the Star Trek franchise or the canon characters.

_**Dr. Angus McKenzie and the Melenian System appear by permission of Starquilter57.**_

_**Chief Giotto appears by permission of Bookdragon01.**_

_Never ask when you can take._

Old Ferengi Saying

Hogan's Goat Spaceport Hesperus IV

* * *

Krill was sitting in a lounge chair in what was reputed to be the best Oo-mox parlor in town. As it was the only parlor in town he considered the possibility that the claim was merely advertizing.

His fortunes had changed greatly in the last year. A chance discovery, overheard in a bar had led him to a planet with a substantial vein of latinum. Unfortunately the planet had been granted protected status by the Federation. Its people were developing precursors to warp technology, and until first contact occurred, a _cordon sanitaire_ had been imposed.

He had figured out a way to avoid the problem of accounting for his latinum at a processing facility. Conversion of latinum into the more commonly accepted gold pressed latinum required among other things a certificate of origin. But, if he was willing to accept a lower price for his pure latinum, he could turn greed to his favor.

Krill recruited some miners, and some disgraced former Federation security people. With his team assembled they had located the latinum. Mined and processed the ore, and left the planet. Unfortunately for his mining team, he had purchased his two shuttles from a scrap yard. He had also performed only the bare minimum of maintenance on them. One of them had crashed during the final transfer of latinum from the planet, The shuttle had failed to make the rendezvous. When Krill and the crew of the his shuttle returned to the planet, the other crew was dead. They found the wrecked shuttle and transferred the latinum.

The wreckage had been concealed from casual discovery. Krill considered it unlikely that his operation had come to the attention of either Starfleet or the Ferengi Alliance. The nature of the planet made it unlikely that a normal search would be able to find any evidence.

* * *

McCoy had slept a bit later than he liked. After quick bowl of grits and sliced fruit, he arrived in his office. He had a priority message from Dr. McKenzie. The Morbidity people had collated a list of 10 ships that had visited the planets in the right time frame and the right order. Bones, thought for a minute. I've got to show this to the Captain and the Chief. If they moved quickly and carefully they might be able to catch up with the smugglers and stop the epidemic.

* * *

Chief Giotto had been studying the accident report on the shuttle. It had been overweight when it crashed. The data recovered from the flight recorder had been analyzed. The shuttle should have had enough power to land safely. As the pilot had struggled to maintain control the shuttle had refused to accelerate. There was at least a thousand kilos of excess weight that could not be accounted for. Adding the latinum traces which had been discovered in the tunnel, the conclusion was pretty simple. The deceased crew had been part of an illegal latinum mining scheme. It was too bad that there wasn't any way to trace the smugglers.

Medical had also sent over copies of the autopsy reports of the crash victims. The DNA reports were back and as he had feared he recognized two of the names, Liam Roberts and Jack Paul. Room mates from their first day at the academy, after ten years of service they had been caught up in a smuggling ring on survey vessel. The case wasn't strong enough to prosecute them for the crime, but they had been given "Other than Honorable Discharges." That was enough to keep them from being hired on by any reputable security company. Clearly they had been working for the dark side.

He would see about having the bodies repatriated.

* * *

Giotto was surprised when Dr. McCoy entered his office. "Chief, I need your help. There is a plague ship making the rounds and I need to stop it."

Giotto thought to himself, I wonder if the plague ship is smuggling. "Len, what have you got.?"

"I made a call to Angus McKenzie, he did a couple of tours in Geneva at the Federation Health Organization's Epidemiology office. He was able to get me a list of all of the ships that had visited the ports where the rat fever outbreaks occurred. There are ten of them, but I can't figure out how to narrow it down."

"OK Len, I've got a couple of ideas. Do we know what these ships were carrying or trading?"

"On at least two planets, patient zero was a precious metals dealer. One died, and the other is now in a vegetative state."

"Len, I think that may be the answer. I'll need to call in some favors. Some old friends from special operations and some from law enforcement. If they can get either the ship's name or the name of the seller from the records, then we can have them met at their next port of call. We'll need to clear this with the Captain, but given his _love_ of pirates and smugglers, that should be a formality."

* * *

Krill was annoyed. Despite having received a certificate of _Practique_ when he arrived and having local seals applied to his cargo hold, the port authorities were now requesting his permission to conduct an inspection of the _Rose._ Reluctantly,Krill left the Oo-mox parlor and returned to his ship.

Emil DuMonde, met Krill outside of the ship. "Captain Krill, I apologize for disturbing you, but I have just received an urgent request from the Federation Health Organization to inspect all ships that have arrived in the last week for evidence of Risan Cargo Rat fever." In fact Emil had not received any such order. He had received a request from an old friend, Sam Giotto, for assistance locating a ship that was smuggling latinum and carrying Risan Cargo Rat Fever. He had assembled an inspection team of rat fever survivors.

Krill was was reluctantly gave permission for the inspection. Neither he nor anyone in the crew had any symptoms of sickness. For his plan to succeed he needed to react as any other cargo ship captain would.

The inspectors boarded the Rose wearing full Bio-hazard equipment, and carrying test equipment. After about 30 minutes the team leader came out and conferred with Emil.

Emil approached Krill. "Captain, with much regret I must inform you that you and your crew are now under quarantine. Your ship has tested positive for the cargo rat fever virus. We will also need a full accounting of your crew's movements and activities here to allow our health services people to fight the plague. You understand that in light of recent events in the Melenian system we must take precautions."

* * *

Incoming message for Samuel Giotto from Emil DuMonde. Sam Instructed the computer to accept the message.

"Emil! I hop it is good news."

"Sam, I think you will be pleased to hear that we have arrested a Ferengi Trader, Krill. He is being charged with many things, but you will be most interested in the following ones. Theft of planetary treasures – 8,000 kilos of highly pure raw latinum; Sale of latinum without proper documentation; transportation of hazardous material – Risan Cargo Rat Fever virus; Keeping multiple manifests; Lying to Port Authorities to obtain _Free Practique_"

"Thanks, Emil, I'll pass that along to some friends here who will be happy to hear this. Do me a favor and send copies of the reports to me, Starfleet and Federation Health."

"Nice talking to you Sam, when are you coming to visit.?

"Not any time soon, I prefer to relax on planets where Andorians don't come to get warm."

As he terminated the call, Sam thought to himself, "This is one for the book, no one will believe how this started."

* * *

Fin

A/N

Hogan's goat is a legendary figure in US Military circles. Of uncertain origin Hogan's Goat is invoked to describe scenes of mass disorganization. I spent a bit of time looking up the origins of Hogan's Goat. The closest that I have come is a song "Bill Grogan's Goat" which may also be related to a song "The Highland Goat."

The Hesperus IV spaceport was received its name when the first sleeper colony ship landed near a herd of _Hesperan Hoofbeest_ – a buffalo like mammal with a thick curly coat and six legs. Local legend has it that the first man off of the ship on seeing them said, "Wow, those buffalo are as messed up as Hogan's Goat. To this day the primary exports of Hesperus are the meat and hides of the Hoofbeest.


End file.
